


Smile and Wave

by zenonaa



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-03-13
Packaged: 2018-10-04 14:43:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10281251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenonaa/pseuds/zenonaa
Summary: 'He hooked his arm around one of her elbows and lowered their arms to a comfortable height. “Smile and wave, Ladybug.”“W-What?”“I’ve done this before. Just smile and wave as you walk,” he explained.'Adrien and Ladybug arrive at a party. Not together, initially.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i'm on an indefinite break from dangan ronpa fanfiction so thought i'd try some ladybug

Smile and wave. Smile and wave. As long as Adrien remembered that mantra then he would be fine. His mother taught him it, just before he was due to step out of their car for a photo shoot. Maybe it was even his first one. He remembered staring out of the window at cameras that flashed in the dark like stars on ground level, just a small boy about to walk across a red carpet with rope barriers either side of him that were supposed to somehow protect him from strangers who would pounce on him if permitted.

Before he emerged from his silver, four-wheeled shelter, his mother tugged lightly on his shoulder and said those three words. “Smile and wave.”

Then she embellished them with another.

“Adrien.”

Adrien blinked at her before nodding and opening the door, and he let the lights consume him.

He kept up the procedure over the next several years, continuing it after his mother went missing too. Over time, he took comfort in doing so. Smiling and waving contented admirers without him having to think of things to say to them, without having to get up close and personal to anyone. Even his father would wave to him, even if he nodded rather than smiled back, and Adrien had gasped with a grin when that first happened.

Therefore, as he stood off to the side, staring at Ladybug who had landed at the mouth of a familiar red carpet between familiar rope barriers, Adrien knew how to help. She had since fastened her yo-yo to her belt and found herself at a loss for what to do next. He had been invited to attend one of the Mayor’s publicity parties at a fancy hotel, accompanied by the Gorilla, so of course Chat Noir had to be absent unless he swapped back and forth between identities like a character in a cartoon. Chloé spent all week bragging about how she and Adrien would be attending, much to the annoyance of all those within earshot. Especially Alya and Marinette - Chloé smugly informed them that she would be in hugging distance of both Adrien and Ladybug. And in kissing distance.

That part, Adrien pretended not to hear.

Off the top of his head, Adrien couldn’t remember what trivial event the party was celebrating, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was Ladybug blinking rapidly, with her elbow tucked into her side, fingers twitching in an awkward wave.

The Gorilla mopped his brow with a handkerchief and grunted, presumably wanting them to go inside. Adrien took a deep breath and then darted away, breaking away quick enough that the Gorilla wouldn’t have the opportunity to react. His footsteps thudded, quieting as he came upon the edge of the crowd. He wiggled his way through them to the rope barrier and after only some struggling, Adrien popped out the other side.

By this point, Ladybug had noticed the rippling movement to her left that affected the photographers there. She must have because Adrien locked eyes with her as soon as he stumbled out in front of her. The sight of him prompted her body to jerk and for her to hang her arms out at right angles either side of her, dangling down at the elbows.

Adrien straightened up, fixed on a grin like one would fix on a tie, and said, “Good afternoon, Ladybug.”

“Dradrien,” she said. She jumped and showed him her palms. “I mean, Adrien!”

The skin by his eyes pinched as he stretched out his lips. Even someone as brave as Ladybug could get overwhelmed. Understandable.

He hooked his arm around one of her elbows and lowered their arms to a comfortable height. “Smile and wave, Ladybug.”

“W-What?”

“I’ve done this before. Just smile and wave as you walk,” he explained.

Adrien escorted her down the walkway. At first, her feet dragged, but when she realised what they were doing, she began lifting her feet appropriately.

Now, Adrien might have seemed calm on the surface, with the fist clenched by his leg as his other hand waved being the only telltale sign of his true feelings, but he definitely was not calm. Inside of him bubbled. His chest tightened, well aware of the fact that he was striding arm-in-arm with Ladybug. Of course, he touched her more informally when he was Chat Noir, but right now, he was a civilian. A celebrity, but a civilian all the same.

He waved to his right. Ladybug copied him. By chance, he caught sight of Chloé stood as close to one of the rope barriers as possible, gawking at them as they passed. She held his attention for only a moment or two.

“That’s it,” he encouraged Ladybug, professionally keeping his voice steady even though he had Ladybug right up against him. Part of him worried that she would figure out he and Chat Noir were the same person, and the rest of him worried that she would think him boring because of how in control of his emotions he tried to be. He had to be.

Not like Chat Noir.

“I’m not used to this sort of thing,” she apologised, pausing from waving to rub the back of her neck. Though he could tell that she was still nervous, he could also tell that she calmed down significantly.

“It’s fine. I’ve been doing this since I was young, so it comes naturally to me,” he replied.

They started ascending the short flight of stairs leading up to the hotel’s entrance. Their arms straightened but rather than let them separate completely, Adrien slipped his hand to Ladybug’s and held onto it. She didn’t object. In fact, she gave a squeeze.

The top of the stairs granted a clearer view of the surrounding area, and it occurred to Adrien that the red carpet connecting the hotel’s front doors to the road where cars pulled up resembled a tongue. He tried to discard that thought and turned his head toward Ladybug. A flush crept up her face that he could feel glowing in his cheeks already.

“Well, we’re here. Thanks a lot,” said Ladybug with a small laugh. Her gaze flickered and she jiggled her arm, forcing out another laugh.

She must have been uncomfortable with them still holding hands. He let go but she didn’t. His brow furrowed but he got distracted by a flash and a loud voice at the bottom of the stairs.

A photographer, camera aimed, flapped a hand from side-to-side like he could reach into his vision and nudge them together that way. “Closer, please!”

Adrien slid his foot closer to Ladybug and shifted his weight. He freed his hand and wrapped his arm loosely around her waist in another bit of physical contact that Ladybug didn’t reject, and he looked toward where photographers were gathering below them.

“S’cuse me!” came a voice worthy of a cringe from Adrien and an eye twitch from Ladybug. Chloé shoved a pink camera into the arms of a photographer that Adrien suspected she didn’t know. Without a single glance over her shoulder, Chloé hurried up the stairs and tried to squeeze herself between Adrien and Ladybug.

“Can we have Ladybug in the middle, please?” asked another photographer.

With a shocking lack of reluctance, Chloé obliged and propped her arm onto Ladybug’s shoulder. Had it been anyone but Ladybug, no doubt Chloé would have shooed them away so she could be the only one posing with Adrien. Actually, had it been anyone but Adrien, she would have shooed them away so she could be the only one posing with Ladybug too.

“I’m totally framing this and hanging it on the ceiling,” announced Chloé. “And bringing copies to school.”

No one moved for a beat. Then Ladybug twisted away from Chloé, knocking Chloé’s arm off her shoulder in the process. She placed her hand against Adrien’s cheek. He let her turn his head toward her, sucked in by her blue eyes narrowed in... something. Concentration? Determination?

The time for adjectives finished as Ladybug sprung onto tiptoe and pressed her lips against his.

For a moment, the world froze. Even the photographers hesitated.

Then, all at once, the moment passed, and cameras snapped like gunshots. Ladybug’s hands shot to his shoulders and gripped tighter than necessary, but Adrien didn’t care. Scratch that, he didn’t even think at first. This wasn’t a peck but something longer, lasting long enough that Adrien could begin processing what had happened while it was still happening.

Cameras clicked like furious fingertips dancing across a keyboard, like the clucking tongue of a dissatisfied teacher, like Chloé’s mouth falling open with a plop, and while all that sounded around him, Adrien Agreste touched lips with Ladybug. His eyes crept shut, cloaking him in the darkness behind his eyelids and in the warmth of his face. He felt around for her hips but just as he found them so he could hold onto her, perhaps to pull Ladybug closer, perhaps just to give his hands something to do, she stepped back and his hands fell to his sides.

With a frown, he restored his vision and caught a glimpse of Ladybug’s red face before she whirled around to shout down the stairs.

“Um!” Ladybug waved at the photographers, who were having a field day at the images they just captured. “Bye!”

She smiled and waved, just like Adrien taught her, and ran into the wall beside the door at the front of the hotel. Adrien winced. Thankfully, she hadn’t injured herself, and she quickly pushed the door open.

Chloé went, “Hmph!” as she watched Ladybug disappear into the hotel. Face screwed up, she put her hands on her hips and continued glaring at the door. That photo definitely wouldn’t be going up in Chloé’s room.

He hid his smirk behind his hand, hoping the butterflies in his chest would disappear before the Gorilla arrived and expected Adrien’s wobbling legs to be able to move from his spot. Because Adrien suspected that if he tried to walk, he might fall flat on his face.


End file.
